fire wood moisture

I located a moisture tester for wood.My question is What should fire wood read to be considered dry?Mine is reading nine point 4.Is that good? Thank you GP
 
I test wood quite a bit, because I sell some, and <20% is considered safe to burn. I had a customer stop at my place and test the wood before he agreed to buy it, a smart man. Like was mentioned, you need to make a fresh split or saw it off to see what the internal moisture is. Different woods dry to different levels, cedar will dry down to <10%, hardwoods rarely get less than 15%, in MN. Here in Arizona I bet it would get a lot lower. There is an online site called Sweeps that has a lot of information about wood.
 

Russ, I am using wood to heat my house, and would like to get a good moisture tester. I cut some wood and buy some. Normally the stuff I cut myself is dry by the time I burn it. But the local outfit is splitting just before delivery and I am getting a lot of hissing from the logs.

Can you recommend a good moisture tester? Also plan to use it for wood that I'll be doing projects with.

Thanks,

Gary
 
I have a moisture meter but have never used it for firewood. You can usually tell how dry firewood is by touch or the weight. If the wood is unusually heavy it will burn very slow.
 
What's the moisture content when the tree is cut in the dead of winter in the northern states?

Dusty
 
(quoted from post at 19:39:46 01/16/19) What's the moisture content when the tree is cut in the dead of winter in the northern states?

Dusty

Are you cutting standing dead wood or live trees? Big difference between a live Elm and an Elm that's been standing in the wind and sun for 2 years and that's lost it's bark. Some woods it doesn't matter much on, Ash burns about as good green as seasoned. Most wood needs a few months at least.
 

Well guys, you can go out and get a moisture tester and test your wood stick by stick. Just what good is the tester going to do you when the temp is 0-F outside and the fire needs stoking.
Personally I prefer wood that has been seasoned for only 6 months. It makes much more long lasting heat than 2 year old wood that burns up in a very short time.
People claim that wet wood causes creosote build up in chimneys, but if you adjust your wood heating appliance so you have a "HOT chimney you will not have problems. This is assuming that you have a good modern SS chimney. All bets off with an aging brick and mortar chimney, that require a lot of wasted heat to keep it up to temperature
Loren
 
I have a moisture tester from HF, but I'm sure there are better ones. Wood should be split as soon as it's cut, it really doesn't start
drying until it's split. The most common wood I cut is birch and black ash, it splits very easy right away, many of them I don't even
stand up, just give them a golf swing with a splitting maul. If it's a tough block I set it aside and use the hydraulic splitter, we have
some dead elm too, and you need a splitter for that. Folks that say dry wood burns too fast have a leaky stove, and need to fix it!
 
My first thought was your meter is broken. Maybe your wood is in a Kiln. Ha, Ha, Ha.
Google firewood moisture content. Less than 20% for firewood or as ACG said season to taste. Wet wood varies by spiecies. I read once in WI natural air drying would get you to some number in the 11-15% range, I forget the exact number.
I thought oak was about 50% water but I just saw a reference as high as 80% from Tennessee.
I cut logs and milled lumber a couple of years so I have a meter and some drying experience.
How fast your wood dries will depend on your climate, where it is stacked, how it is cut up and split. Paul
 
Leave it set for 2 years off the ground and it will be ready to burn. Split it just before you put it in the wood shed. Works for me.
 
I try to keep one year a head. I stack and put plastic over top and leave sides open for air to get around it.
 
It sounds like you have a meter that has to have a converson chart to go with it. I have one I used when I sawed lumber and with it you checked the wood with the meter and then took those numbers and had to use a chart in the book for the type of wood and that would give you moisture content. I also like my wood no older that 6 months as it holds a fire better
 
(quoted from post at 18:12:39 01/16/19) I have a moisture tester from HF, but I'm sure there are better ones. Wood should be split as soon as it's cut, it really doesn't start
drying until it's split.

Thanks. I've read through the comments and this is one of the most helpful posts of the many I've seen about burning wood. I have maybe two cords need to be split and I'll be good for the start of the next season. I only go through 3-4 cords per winter-- winters are usually not too long here in Maryland.

This is my current storage system on the front porch. It's a place-holder until I can build a proper firewood/tractor shed. Holds almost exactly one cord. Not sure why I put the top tier on for the upper level of firewood. If someone can tell me why I did that, I'd appreciate it LOL.
mvphoto29974.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 23:57:13 01/16/19) My first thought was your meter is broken. Maybe your wood is in a Kiln. Ha, Ha, Ha.
Google firewood moisture content. Less than 20% for firewood or as ACG said season to taste. Wet wood varies by spiecies. I read once in WI natural air drying would get you to some number in the 11-15% range, I forget the exact number.
[b:cf27848c7f]I thought oak was about 50% water but I just saw a reference as high as 80% from Tennessee.[/b:cf27848c7f]
I cut logs and milled lumber a couple of years so I have a meter and some drying experience.
How fast your wood dries will depend on your climate, where it is stacked, how it is cut up and split. Paul

The wood isn't 50-80% water, but the water in the wood can make up 50-80% of the weight of the wood. Quite a difference there!
 

I've always found it odd how people think in terms of "cords" of wood when it comes to firewood. Where I live now when people speak in terms of "cords" they mean a "face cord", a rick of wood 16" deep, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. Where I grew we thought ( and bought or sold) wood in a "cord" too, but it was an actual "CORD", 4'x4'x8'. 128 cu ft of wood, 3 face cord to the full cord. I can't break the habit of thinking in full cords!
 
You did that because the wood dries more in the front and sooner or later the pile falls forward. Ben there done that. Paul
 
I am 72 years old and have been around cutting firewood all my life. When growing up dad worked at a
factory and cut firewood and blocking for steel mills and never heard firewood called a face cord. The
first time we heard face cord was in the 80s when I was laid up and dad was getting to old to cut wood by
himself. We bought a tri axle dump truck load said to contain 7 face cord but after stacking it was only 6
cord. If I have to buy it will be by the cord.
 
Best way to test moisture in wood is with a scale 50lb block of wood bring it inside by the stove let it dry for for a week more weigh it again.If it weighed 50lbs then after drying it
weighed 42lb then it had about a gallon of water in it.A lot more water in wood especially something like Red Oak than it seems.
 
Hello d beatty,

In the old country ( Italy), wood is sold by weight. Better for the consumer for properly seasoned wood,

Guido.
 
(quoted from post at 17:53:03 01/17/19) Hello d beatty,

In the old country ( Italy), wood is sold by weight. Better for the consumer for properly seasoned wood,

Guido.
ut not as easy to cheat the consumer! :(
 
You can't check wood when it's frozen, have to warm it up to room temperature and let the condensation dry off.
then I think it would be quite high, my tester only goes to 35%, then it says OL. Probably in the spring when the
sap is rising it would be higher. Even the dead elm with no bark are high moisture for the first 8 feet from the
stump, above 12 feet it's ready to burn.
 
I am confused by your post. An average tri-axle dump truck should hold about 420 cu.ft./ 15.5yd, struck load.
Random unstacked wood does take up a lot of space, BUT 6 face cord stacked equals 256 cu.ft. That truck had lots of room for far more wood than was delivered. I guess it was not a truck load.
Loren
 

I was thinking the same thing Loren. A tri-ax (3 rear axles and a steering axle) is going to hold a whole heck of a lot more than 6 or 7 face cord.
 
(quoted from post at 08:15:30 01/17/19) You did that because the wood dries more in the front and sooner or later the pile falls forward. Ben there done that.

My thinking was just that--the stack would get unstable the higher it got. I am okay with the upper stack--doesn't seem to hurt anything and my arms are long enough to take wood off the top.
 
Like I said I was laid up and that's what my dad said it came in on tri axle. But not all tri axles have same size bed?
 
Its the law in the Commonwealth of Virginia that wood be sold by the Cord or a fraction of a Cord,if the consumer thinks they got cheated someone from the Dept of Ag will
come and measure the wood.That said a lot of wood is sold by the 'pickup' load.
 
(quoted from post at 23:13:22 01/18/19) Like I said I was laid up and that's what my dad said it came in on tri axle. But not all tri axles have same size bed?

True enough. It doesn't really matter, it just seemed like a tiny amount of wood for a tri-ax I used to deliver a full cord (4'x4'x8') in an F250 with side racks. $25.00 and for another $5.00 I'd stack it. Boy, those were the days..... :shock:
 

In the discussion about getting a full cord, don't forget that it has to be stacked well enough that "a squirrel can run through an opening but the cat chasing it cannot."
 

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